BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq signed a military pact with Iran on Wednesday in a breakthrough with a former foe, but al Qaeda said it would kill Egypt's kidnapped envoy and attack more diplomats to stop the government winning international support.

Defence Minister Saadoun al-Dulaimi signed a pact in Tehran agreeing to accept Iranian military training and other cooperation with the country Iraq fought for a decade under ousted leader Saddam Hussein.

Responding to the suggestion that the thaw in ties with Iran would anger Washington, Dulaimi said: "Nobody can dictate to Iraq its relations with other countries."

Iraq is anxiously trying to improve its ties with other Muslim countries to win legitimacy and undermine insurgent support. But mainly Sunni-led Arab states have been cautious about embracing the Shi'ite-dominated, U.S.-backed Iraqi authorities.

Al Qaeda's Iraq wing, led by Jordanian Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, said it would kill Egypt's top envoy Ihab el-Sherif, issuing photographs of personal documents as proof it held him.

Its statement referred to a "sharp sword against the infidels' ambassador", an apparent hint that he could be beheaded. It included no demands or possibility of negotiation. Zarqawi's followers have frequently filmed beheadings of captives for maximum political impact.

"The sharia court of al Qaeda Organisation in Iraq has decided to hand the apostate, the ambassador of Egypt which is allied to Jews and Christians, to the mujahideen to ... kill him," said the group. Cairo did not comment on the statement.

Sherif's abduction off the streets on Saturday was the first in a series of strikes on diplomats.

Pakistan withdrew its ambassador from Baghdad on Tuesday after his motorcade was attacked by gunmen. Bahrain's envoy was shot in the hand in his car in an apparent kidnap attempt.

The al Qaeda statement threatened more such strikes.

"This will be the fate of ambassadors of the tyrannical states because Jihadist Iraq today is not secure for infidels ... and America cannot protect itself, let alone others."

The Weight of a Snowflake"Tell me the weight of a snowflake," a coalmouse asked a wild dove."Nothing more than nothing," the dove answered."In that case I must tell you a marvelous story," the coalmouse said. "I saton a fir branch close to the trunk when it began to snow. Not heavily, notin a raging blizzard. No, just like in a dream, without any violence at all.Since I didn't have anything better to do, I counted the snowflakes settlingon the twigs and needles of my branch. Their number was exactly 3,471,952.When the next snowflake dropped onto the branch--nothing more thannothing -- as you say -- the branch broke off."Having said that, the coalmouse ran away.The dove, since Noah's time an authority on peace, thought about the storyfor a while. Finally, she said to herself, "Perhaps there is only oneperson's voice lacking for peace to come to the world." - Source unknown

"Defence Minister Saadoun al-Dulaimi signed a pact in Tehran agreeing to accept Iranian military training and other cooperation with the country Iraq fought for a decade under ousted leader Saddam Hussein."

This bit of news should give a jolt to all the neocons in the US and Israel that lobbied so hard for the invasion of Iraq. If they thought Saddam was a threat to Israel, they just jumped from the pan into the fire, and deservedly so!

Iranians to train Iraq's military

Former enemies Iran and Iraq say they will launch broad military co-operation including training Iraqi armed forces.

"It's a new chapter in our relations with Iraq," said Iranian Defence Minister Admiral Ali Shamkhani.

He was speaking at a joint news conference in Tehran with his Iraqi counterpart Saadoun al-Dulaimi.

<snip>

Tehran has asked Baghdad not to allow the US to establish long-term military bases on its soil, fearing that it would consolidate what Iranians see as the American and Israeli military domination of the region.

Bushco must be unnerved at the thought of losing all those military bases in Iraq. Iraq becoming allied with another member of the Axis of Evil must be infuriating to Bush. After all we did for them; imposed crippling sanctions, stood back and watched the country looted, imprisoned and tortured their citizens and nearly destoying whole cities.

The troops believed in the Chimp's lies about WMD. When the Chimp stopped talking about WMDs, the troops believed him when he spoke about establishing "freedom and democracy" in Iraq. When the Chimp changed the rationale for the war for the third time to the mantra that it was "better to fight the terrorist in Iraq than here," a majority of the troops continued to believe in the Chimp.

When this war ends in the inevitable US withdrawal in shame and defeat, the only truth is that the troops that died and bled for the Chimp in Iraq, died to set up an Iranian-style Islamic Republic in Iraq.

It would have been tolerable to just leave Iraq with a government that served the interests of all Iraqis. The recent rise of the Badr Corps (Shite militia) along with the above news indicates to me that hope is rapidly fading. A UN involvement may turn things around and it would get our troops out.

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